I realized after I had posted my thoughts that there is already a place for just this, its the bio. If the bio was changed to a required field and renamed to current system??? or a form with standard questions?

Well, I, for one, do not hold grudges, its too hard on my blood pressure.

I think it is common online to be misunderstood. It is worse when the audience is international and there is a language barrier. That is the situation here a lot of the time.

I tend to do the knee jerk reaction first then rethink it later. I am working on that.

I would implore you to give it another chance. Kick back awhile and just watch and see if you can get some info in a passive way. I don't think anyone here really holds a grudge or will blacklist you for any early communication misunderstandings.

I believe you just happened on the board at a time of high stress levels with lots of new folks with lots of unresearched questions. Some of us are concerned with this type stuff diluting the quality of this resource.

Bottom line here is that we truly do want to help people, especially people with a desire to create their own power.

Some of our finest members got off on the wrong foot and got an arse chewing in the beginning of their membership here. By me. A few are now what I consider good, close online friends. A lot like a family, really. We argue and we fight and we can get mean but it usually blows over as fast as it erupted. We have banished or otherwise run off troublesome users over the years but it usually is only for gross misconduct. You certainly don't fit that category.

I honestly urge you to hang around and soak up some of the great knowledge here. Give it another try, at least in a passive role.

Anyone truly interested in learning should be welcome here and I think in general they are. We just expect folks to at least attempt to enlighten themselves as a preliminary step to posting here. Similar to prerequisites in college coursework.

Anyway think it over and reply if you want me to anonymize your account.

Not sure of the repercussions of killing your posts because replies and / or comments will be killed also and those belong to others.

I too would consider myself a newbie and like many, many others who come across this forum do not always understand how exactly to navigate it. I have on occasion asked for information on projects and have recieved answers that range from way over my head, to exactly what I needed and could understand, to rather mean spirited. I understand that sometimes what I read is not the way the writer intended to come across, and sometimes it probably is. I also am not as internet savy as some others. I have no idea what it takes to maintain this site in both energy and dollars I don't know if my questions use up limited stoarage space or slow down the site. There are probably zillions like me out there. I have read questions that even I have seen as not well thought out, I may well have even asked some, however I have a real desire to learn more about renewable energy, lower my energy requirements and be be kinder to the environment. I would hope that people get involved in this forum because they like sharing their knowledge. If a question is that bad no one has to respond to it. All that said I think the response that Tom drew up in his last post is well stated, to the point and positive, and hopefully will go a long way in solving the problems that these posts seem to cause.

First, make no mistake, I respect you as a doer who shares his experiences.

no big brothers please....

Uh, did you actually read what I wrote? Doesn't look that way from this comment?

Its more like friendly advice on how to submit than "Big Brother" stuff.

Figures that about 1 in 5 actually read and understand the post as it was intended.

You see, Big Brother wouldn't be explaining he would just do it and do it to anyone who complained they thought he was doing it.

This is just to give them a chance to resubmit after some thought. The original post stays long enough for them to read why it happened.

Please go back and READ what I actually wrote rather than just assume the worst, Really.

By all means, disagree if you actually disagree with what was written, not simply to disagree with me, please.

I don't have any older brothers but the guys I know who had big brothers had a defender, a teacher and a mentor, plus the occasional butt kicker. Maybe I misunderstood your reference to "big brother"? In this sense we could all use a big brother, I think.